“Every day we touch billions of lives with our products,” affirms Alessandro Zanelli, CEO of Nestlé Ukraine and Moldova. “This is a strong sign of trust of our consumers and it gives us a great sense of pride but at the same time carries a huge responsibility.”
It is this feeling of responsibility, Zanelli explains, that drove Nestlé to announce its ambitious pledge in the first place. “By 2025, 100% of Nestle’s packaging will be recyclable or reusable and we will reduce use of virgin plastics by one third”. Company’s sustainability commitment evolved, and Nestlé recently has announced its ambition to achieve zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. These ambitions are very challenging and have massive implication in terms of development of packaging solutions and changes in production lines. Therefore, Nestlé has developed a detailed plan, based on three pillars: develop packaging for the future, help shape a waste-free future, drive new behaviours and understanding.
Nestlé is the world’s biggest food and beverages company, employing some 300,000 people around the world with 403 factories working in 84 countries. In Ukraine Nestlé sells about 160 million products, meaning every week we sell an amount of units equivalent to Ukrainian population. To meet its ambitious pledge, the company has to find improved solutions for all of the more than 2,000 brands in its portfolio.
But that, argues Zanelli, is precisely the point. Because of the size of Nestlé, our impact causes ripples across the industry and can influence other players. This has certainly been the case globally, with a growing list of companies starting the same or similar initiatives.
Develop packaging for the future
Taking responsibility for Nestlé means, first taking a long and hard look at packaging, the company’s Ukraine and Moldova СEO explained.
The way to zero waste goes necessarily through the “full cycle of the 5 Rs – Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repair”. As individuals, we need to embrace these simple rules if we want to contribute to waste reduction, Zanelli said, adding that for the producers the sixth R should be added and it is Re-think – re-think the way we pack our products to ensure that we minimize the final waste, what cannot be recycled or reused and therefore has to disposed.
Packaging is critical for the food industry. It plays a crucial role in protecting the product, preserving its quality and taste for the entire duration of the shelf life, guaranteeing its safety. Additionally, it allows consumers to see and touch it and it provides information about ingredients, contents, formulas and recipes. And an attractive and functional packaging is many times determining the preference and the choice of buying or rejecting a product – and, in a sense it is a devilishly tricky game since “Consumers want something that is attractive, functional, re-closable, durable” Zanelli noted, “but this add additional complexity in making this packaging recyclable”.
To address this issue, Nestlé has created the Nestlé Institute of Packaging Sciences, dedicated to the discovery and development of functional, safe and environmentally friendly packaging solutions. This is a step further to achieve the company’s commitment to make 100% of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025. Zanelli notes some impressive achievements already, including recyclable Pet Care pouches as well as a fully recyclable paper solution for Nesquik, a chocolate drink mix and one of the company’s most beloved brands. “We aim to minimize our impact on the natural environment while safely delivering to our consumers healthier and tastier products” – Zanelli continued.
The goal, in a way, is to get back to what nature does best.
“If you think about, the best packaging it is the eggshell – thin, protective, fully wraps and protects the contents and its fully recyclable,” Zanelli laid out, joking that in Ukraine it goes even one step further – the painted pysanki eggs also ensure vivid colours and an attractive appearance.
The best packaging is done by nature such as eggshell – thin, protective, wraps and preserves the product and it’s fully recyclable – says Zanelli.
Shining a light, taking responsibility – Help shape a waste-free future
But achieving global goals of Zero Waste and 100% packaging recyclable or reusable makes sense and has impact only if we are building in parallel and local infrastructure and system to manage waste more effectively.
This is particularly important in Ukraine, where the government has dawdled on the issue, frustrating a growing number of citizens and leaving local authorities to literally deal with the mess.
To deliver the most impact, Nestlé has joined forces with other Food and Beverages producers to implement the principles of extended producer responsibility – a policy approach, in which the producer’s responsibility for a product is extended to the post-consumption stage, de-facto creating a circular economy concept based on companies being accountable for the waste their activities create, and hence being incentivised to deliver sustainable solutions. This has resulted in the launch of the Sustainability Committee as part of the Business Association ACC where about 16 big multinational companies cooperate on EPR approach and other sustainability issues.
“Only by joining forces we can do the right steps and pursue the ambition and the results we need to get,” Zanelli emphasized. “There is a need for industry to lead, and the EPR model means producers take ownership of the problem.” The advantages of an EPR system is multiples: increase collection and recycling rates of products and materials targeted, shift financial responsibility from municipalities to producers, reduce landfilling and develop recycling and recovery channels, incentivize eco-design.
As a result, businesses operating in Ukraine are expected to undertake substantial investments in the country’s infrastructure and modernise the sector. As an added benefit, it is expected to limit Ukraine’s dependence on import of recyclable materials. Meanwhile, the company is also moving forward with enigmatically named “Project Lighthouse” – a joint project by Nestlé and waste management company Veolia, which implements the extended producer responsibility principles in three towns in Kyiv Oblast (Makariv, Novi Petrivtsi and Stari Petrivtsi).
The goal of the initiative, announced in September 2020, is to build the infrastructure for the collection of recyclables and implement circular economy principles across the whole process – from the moment of a product’s creation to the time of recycling. As part of the initiative, Nestlé aims to invest together with partner company Veolia close to 60 million hryvnias over 5 years in cooperation with the local authorities.
According to Veolia’s calculations, the planned installation of 200 specialized containers will allow to collect 20 tons of glass and 25 tons of other types of recyclables each month. All the rubbish collected will be recycled.
Drive new behaviours and understanding
But even more important than immediate results, Zanelli argues, is the learning opportunity. “We want to learn, measure the impact of the activities and create an educational platform,” he added. Educational programs are critical because we need to engage consumer in being responsible for proper sorting and separate wasting.
Once data will be analysed and the results will be available, we aim to inspire other local governments, other waste management companies and other industry players. Even when the goal is national, Zanelli noted, “experience shows that you have to go city by city.”
That’s where the project’s name comes in. “When you are far, the Lighthouse gives you the destination but with a relatively feeble light. But as you get closer light is more powerful and things become much clearer,” Zanelli explained. He hopes that making this data available will serve the industry and spur it into action – just as with the impetus produced by Nestlé’s pledge itself.
